Russia's ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov died on Monday after being shot while visiting an art exhibition opening in the Turkish capital Ankara, television reports said.

Karlov was hospitalised and several other people were wounded, NTV and CNN-Turk televisions said immediately after the incident. The attack came after days of protests in Turkey over Russia's role in Syria.

According to a witness, the attacker shouted "Aleppo" and "revenge".

"When the ambassador was delivering a speech, a tall man wearing a suit fired into the air first and then took aim at the ambassador," Hasim Kilic, a correspondent for the daily Hurriyet, told AFP.

"He said something about 'Aleppo' and 'revenge'." 

The attacker was "neutralised" in a police operation, the official Anadolu news agency reported.

source: GULF NEWS